1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems, including apparatuses and methods, for capturing, processing and displaying images and, more particularly, to systems for capturing, processing and displaying or otherwise outputting images so that a user or viewer can manipulate or otherwise interact with the display/output in one or more ways, such as to give the appearance of two-dimensional (2-D) or three-dimensional (3-D) motion.
2. The Prior Art
There is a demand in the art for systems, including apparatuses and methods, whereby images, either displayed via a computer screen, some other display device, or stored or rendered in some other medium, can be manipulated or interacted with by a user in some fashion, for example, to impart the illusion of movement in two dimensions or three dimensions to an object depicted in an image or images.
Systems and methods are known in which images can be downloaded on web pages to a user's browser through an Internet Service Provider (ISP), stored in the cache memory of the user's computer hard drive, and displayed to the user where thereafter the user is provided with certain options with respect to the images which, when exercised, give the user the perception of interaction with the images in some fashion.
For example, a retailer might maintain a website with an on-line catalog feature. A user can access the website from his or her computer, select an item in the catalog, and the web page corresponding to that item will be sent to the user's computer in response to the request. The web page consists of software that determines what will be displayed to the user (typically, the software is written in accordance with a standardized protocol, such as HTML (“Hypertext Markup Language”) or XML (“Extensible Hypertext Markup Language”).
Upon delivery to the user, the web page typically is stored in cache memory on the hard drive of the user's computer. If the web page is configured to permit some form of interactivity with the image(s) by the user, the user may be able, for example, to view an item in the catalog, such as a sweater, that is originally presented in the color black, in alternative colors such as white or pink. To engage in this type of interactivity, the user might be prompted to click with his or her mouse on a color chart or some other icon so that the color of the sweater changes from black to white or from black to pink, to see what the item would look like in a different color. Similarly, the user might be able to click on the image or on some other icon to see an enlarged view of an item, e.g., a “zoom” of the item.
With such prior art systems, however, the more complex the content of the web page, generally the longer it takes to deliver the web page to the user and to ready image(s) for display or interactivity. For example, a file that corresponds to a single, relatively high-resolution image (e.g., an image with a resolution of 1024×768 pixels) is larger than, and therefore will take longer to deliver than, a lower resolution image (e.g., an image with a resolution of 320×240 pixels). Thus, prior art systems might offer users lower resolution images in order to avoid the extended delivery time that would be perceived by the user if higher resolution images were to be offered. The lower resolution of the delivered images leads to a disadvantage in prior art systems in which one of the possible interactive functions is a “zoom” function. That is, the quality of an image when it is zoomed in on, depends in part on the resolution of an image. The higher the resolution of an image, generally the longer it takes to deliver the image to a user. Thus, maximum resolution of a zoomed-in-on image often must be sacrificed in favor of faster image delivery times in these systems. Consequently, prior art systems typically start by delivering images of lower resolution (e.g., 320×240 pixels) to a user, such that when a zoom interactive function is later initiated, the zoomed-in-on image appears less clear or less sharp than the original image (i.e., the non-zoomed-in-on image), or even becomes distorted (e.g., pixelated) upon zooming. Thus, there is a need for a system that allows delivery of, and subsequent interactivity with, an image or images that will have quality resolution even upon zooming. The present invention satisfies this need.
Moreover, when prior art systems offer users the option of an interactive function with respect to images that results in the illusion of a virtual 3-D effect, such as, the illusion of rotation of an object through three dimensions, multiple images of the object are required to achieve the effect. Typically, a set of images of the object are taken through 360 degrees in a particular plane. The greater the number of images, the smoother the rotation effect will be when the interactive function is later carried out. In order to deliver the multiple images to the user, however, prior art systems first combine the multiple images into a single file and then deliver that file to the user. The more the images, the larger the file. The larger the file, the longer the images take to be delivered. In these systems, therefore, trade offs might have to be made that disadvantageously affect the quality of the interactive functions that a user can carry out with respect to the images, in order to avoid lengthy delivery times. Alternatively, the user will just have to accept long delivery times in order to view images using the prior art systems.
Accordingly, web pages containing images with which a user has some limited opportunity to interact can take too long, from the perspective of the user, between the time a request is made for the web page and the time the image(s) on the web pages are first perceptible to the user and then made available for any interactivity.
Further, prior art systems that provide a user with the opportunity to carry out more sophisticated interactive functions with respect to an image or images on a web page, such as obtaining different perspective views of an object in an image (e.g., front, back and side views), 360-degree views (e.g., a panoramic view of a piece of real estate or of the inside of a hotel room), or zooming in on an object in an image, often require supplemental software or software in addition to that contained on the web page in order to enable these interactive functions. Such additional software commonly is provided in the form of a “plug-in,” a software program that the user either already must possess on his or her local computer's hard drive or which must be downloaded to the user's local computer before any higher level interactive functions may be initiated. The necessity for a plug-in as a prerequisite to interactivity is an added level of complexity that it would be desirable to eliminate. The plug-in also may be associated with a fee or some other commitment the user would rather avoid, may require a separate, time-consuming procedure to download and install and, may generally detract from a user's enjoyment of, or willingness to use, a particular website.
Software protocols have been developed, for example, DHTML (“Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language”), which are designed to allow programmers to construct web pages that have the capacity for a higher degree of user interactivity. To date, however, no software has been developed that advantageously: (1) provides a user with the ability to rapidly perceive images on a web page, howsoever complex, after the request for the web page is processed; and (2) permits a sophisticated level of interactivity and a broad range of interactive options with respect to images, once the web page has been delivered. Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved system for rapidly delivering images to a user with which a user can initiate a broad range of advanced interactive functions. The present invention satisfies these needs.
In connection with the desire of website designers to provide content in the form of images with which a user can engage in some high-level interactive functions upon downloading the pertinent web page(s), there is also a demand in the art for systems, including apparatuses and methods, which facilitate the creation of the images in the first instance, with which interactivity will later be enabled. Presently, there are likely many individuals, businesses, or government agencies who, without necessarily maintaining or operating their own websites, nevertheless are desirous of creating images that either are digitized or convertible to digital form, which ultimately can be made available for downloading by users via a web page from a website, and which can be interacted with by a user to some degree once downloaded. Currently, such individuals, businesses, or government agencies typically must engage the services of a third party service provider or consultant to create the images, even if they already maintain their own websites, and have little control over the various aspects of the image-capturing process. Thus, resorting to such a third party provider might be perceived as prohibitively expensive to many potential image creators, or simply more trouble than it is worth to embark on the process. Moreover, most individuals, businesses, and government agencies are not likely to be aware of what is required to create the images needed to ultimately enable interactivity. For example, one possible interactive function that might be desired with respect to an object in an image on the web page might be to rotate the object about one axis to obtain a 360-degree view of the object. Generally, in order to implement a “rotate” function, a set of images of the object to be virtually rotated on a display (or on some printed form) must be acquired at incremental angles, such that when the individual images are viewed sequentially in fairly rapid succession, an illusion of rotational movement is perceived by the user. A typical prospective image creator is not likely to have access to the equipment or fixtures necessary to acquire such a set of images.
Assuming that processing software is commercially available that would enable interactivity once the appropriate input images have been obtained, the average prospective image creator is not apt to have knowledge of, or access to, the resources for creating the requisite images as a prerequisite first step. Prior art systems are known in which apparatuses and methods are used to capture images of an object which later will be manipulable by software or, alternatively, rendered manipulable by physical movement (e.g., moving the rendered images on a lenticular sheet relative to the eyes of a viewer). Such systems tend to be cumbersome and expensive in terms of time, resources or financial requirements, owing to the complexity of the image-capturing devices and/or the number of method steps needed to capture and process the images. In addition, access to the technology currently available to transfer images to a medium with which a user can interact so as to perceive the illusion of motion of an object depicted in the image(s) can be limited, based on equipment and material needs. Thus, individuals, businesses, or governmental agencies lacking the necessary expertise but who are nonetheless desirous of creating virtual 2-D or 3-D images that can be manipulated or interacted with on a computer display or otherwise (e.g., on some form of print media), must engage a third party service provider that will control almost all aspects of the image capture, processing, and display/output. The engagement of a third party typically is more expensive and more time-consuming than the user would like, and often yields images or degrees of manipulability or interactivity that are less than satisfactory to the user.
Thus, a need exists too for a system, including apparatuses and methods, by which users efficiently and cost-effectively can acquire an image or images that ultimately can be enabled for one or more interactive functions (e.g., perceived translation or movement from point a to point b or, in virtual 3-D applications, rotation to convey the illusion of movement in 3 dimensions). The present invention clearly fulfills this need.
As mentioned above, images with which some level of interactivity (or perceived interactivity) is enabled are not limited to images delivered via a web page to a user's computer display. For example, interactive images can be displayed in air, such as, using holography or a similar technology. Interactive images also can be stored on various media, such as computer hard drives, CD-ROMs, and DVD-ROMs. Further, interactive images can be rendered in a variety of printed media, such as by using lenticular printing.
Lenticular printing is based on the concept of laying a plastic lens over a series of printed dots or, alternatively, printing a series of dots on a plastic lens. Lenticular lenses are convex, and typically take the form of parallelogram with a generally semicircular cross-section, similar in appearance to a tiny Quonset hut. Multiple lenticular lenses are provided in one lenticular sheet. The curvature of the lenses focuses the eyes on different parts of the arrangement of printed dots, depending on the angle from which the lenticular sheet is viewed. Each of the multiple lenses on the lenticular sheet acts like a magnifying glass. That is, each lens magnifies the image that is printed on or under each lens. Each lens has a profile which resembles the grooves in a record album, albeit the grooves in the lens are disposed in parallel rows. Each lens magnifies the light and the image, thus enhancing the appearance of the image. Lenticular sheets can be made from a variety of different plastics, depending on the applicable printing specifications. These plastics include flexible polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”), amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (“APET”), polyethylene terephthalate glycol (“PETG”), acrylic, styrene, and polycarbonate, and other similar materials. The density of a lenticular sheet is commonly characterized in terms of the number of lenses per inch (“lpi”). Current technology allows lenticular sheets to be created with up to 1,000 lpi, permitting razor-sharp lenticular images to be rendered on material that is about as thin as a page in a typical magazine.
Current lenticular technology allows an interactive effect to be perceived by a user, e.g., the illusion of movement of an object, such as an eye opening and closing, or the illusion that one object changes or “morphs” into a different object. A “zoom” effect can also be achieved. Typically, each image in a set of images needed for the chosen effect is apportioned into a certain number of strips or squares. The strips or squares are then distributed over a predetermined or selected number of the lenticular lenses that comprise a given lenticular sheet. Each strip or square either is printed on, laid on top of, or affixed to, a corresponding portion of a lenticular lens, or, alternatively, the strips or squares can be distributed on a flat surface that the lenticular sheet bearing the lenses is then laid on top of or over. In this manner, the user can perceive a different one of the images in the set of images when the user tilts his or her head relative to the lenticular sheet or when the lenticular sheet is tilted relative to the user. Disadvantageously, while the user is perceiving the transition from one image disposed on the lenticular sheet to the next image, the user occasionally also perceives a “bleeding” effect, whereby part of the first image is perceived at the same time as the next image. It would be desirable to minimize or eliminate this bleeding effect in connection with lenticular sheets.
With respect to rendering interactive images in a printed form such as a lenticular sheet, and as is similarly the case with creating the input images prerequisite to enabling interactivity in the first instance, the technology necessary to configure images for use with lenticular sheets and the like, is not technology that is generally accessible to most individuals or businesses who might be desirous of using it. In addition, the interactive functions available with current lenticular technology, e.g., the effect of motion, changing objects, rotating an object, and zooming in on an object, generally can only be enabled by physically tilting the lenticular sheet with respect to the eye, or by changing the orientation of one's head with respect to the lenticular sheet. Lenticular technology would be rendered more flexible for a variety of other applications if the interactive functions could be enabled by means other than tilting the lenticular sheet or tilting the viewer's head. Thus, there is a need in the art for systems, including apparatuses and methods, which make the technology necessary to create interactive image displays or stored or printed interactive images more convenient and readily available to prospective users. The present invention also satisfies this need.